Wednesday, 15 April 2015

A trilogy of trilogies!

HarperVoyager is thrilled to announce the acquisition of a groundbreaking new epic fantasy trilogy from acclaimed rising star of the genre Mark Lawrence. UK and Commonwealth rights (exc. Canada) for the RED SISTER trilogy were acquired by Publishing Director Jane Johnson for a substantial six-figure sum from Ian Drury at Sheil Land.

In a bold move, RED SISTER features Mark’s first ever female protagonist, Nona; a girl with a mysterious past and a dangerous future. There are rich evocations of The Wizard of Earthsea and The Name of the Wind, alongside Mark’s trademark grit and violence: Nona is being trained to kill, and dark political forces will seek to use her wild natural magic to their own advantage.

Mark Lawrence sprang onto the fantasy scene in 2011 with PRINCE OF THORNS, which was the best-selling fantasy debut of the year and has since been reprinted 12 times. Having just delivered the third and final book in his second trilogy, The Red Queen’s War, HarperVoyager is delighted to be taking the publishing partnership to 2018.

Robin Hobb chose to promote PRINCE OF FOOLS with an excerpt in the back of the World Book Night giveaway edition of her ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE, she loves his work so much; and the final volume in his Broken Empire series, EMPEROR OF THORNS, hit the hardback bestseller list. His work reprints more frequently than any other writer on the Voyager list, with the exception of George R. R. Martin.

Jane Johnson says: “Mark Lawrence is one of the best reasons I continue to be a publisher: he is without doubt the finest new writer to enter the fantasy field in the past decade and I am hugely proud to publish him. He has an extraordinary talent, combining wonderfully lyrical writing with a very dark sensibility and a scientist's precision, and he has turned the genre on its head.”

Mark Lawrence say: "I'm excited to have been given the opportunity to continue working with HarperVoyager. Readers often underestimate the degree of support provided by a great publisher and the importance of having an editor who really 'gets' the work at every level. I'm lucky to have both."

I'm currently 70,000 words into book 1, Red Sister, so still a ways to go yet. The books are set in a new world. I might return to the Broken Empire one day, but I felt it time for new horizons. This will also be my first published work not in the 1st person, though I'm sticking to one point of view.

On my unofficial site ThatThornGuy.com there's even a temporary/fake cover for book 1. The work of Tomasz Jedruszek. It was one of his designs, posted on Facebook as a possible cover for Princess of Thorns by my editor Jane Johnson, when I was joking about the title, that inspired me to write about Nona.

I have enjoyed all the books of the broken world and have read Red Sister in record time, having a hard time putting it down to do other things.I trust there will be more to this series as implied by the final words of Nona to CleraUtterly brilliant